A local bluegrass quartet, Hickory Robot, raised $5,700 to help pay for studio time, mixing and mastering for its forthcoming album, “Sawyer.”

Independent singer-songwriter Kim Taylor from Loveland collected nearly $13,000 toward the cost of her fourth full-length record and a radio advertising campaign to promote it.

And graphic designer and artist Ricky Henry, who lives in Wilder, got almost double the $350 he needed to print a second issue of his comic book, “Monster Management Security Bureau of Cincinnati.”

They all did it using Kickstarter, the fast-growing New York company that calls itself the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. Since Kickstarter’s launch in 2009, 84 Cincinnati-area projects have gotten funding through its website, with more than $620,000 in total dollars pledged.

“Without Kickstarter, it would have taken us another year to have socked away the money,” said Scott Carnder, a mandolinist and songwriter with Hickory Robot. “Within a few weeks, the record was funded.”

All or nothing

Kickstarter is a way to raise relatively small amounts of money to fund big dreams. It’s changed the creative business landscape, allowing more filmmakers, musicians, artists and designers to finance projects without borrowing money or having big corporate backing.

It works like this: Entrepreneurs post information about projects in need of funding on www.kickstarter.com. The projects stay active for a set period – typically 30 days or less – and seek a specific amount of money. The posts explain the projects, often adding photos and videos. Donors are offered rewards – such as music downloads, drawings or copies of CDs – based on how much they contribute. Projects that don’t meet their goals in the allotted time get nothing. Zilch.

Those that reach – or exceed – their goals pay a 5 percent fee to Kickstarter and another fee to Amazon, which charges between 3 percent and 5 percent as the site’s payment processor. It’s an example of “crowdfunding,” where large numbers of people can give businesses money using the Internet. So far, $297 million has been pledged to successful projects on the site, with Kickstarter’s revenue representing 5 percent of that total.

“It’s sort of at the intersection of commerce and patronage,” said Justin Kazmark, a Kickstarter spokesman. “And it’s a way for creators to retain creative control. ”

Of course, those who use it run the risk of public failure, said Hickory Robot’s Carnder.

“It was three of the longest weeks of my life,” he said. The band met its goal with 18 hours to go. “I hadn’t been that nervous since my wife was pregnant with our first child. But I feel like we won the lottery when it happened.”

Kickstarter is not for everyone. Funding requests of $10,000 or less are most likely to be successful. Films are the most popular projects funded, followed by games and then music.

Many local entrepreneurs have had great success. Chamber music quartet Conundrum raised nearly $8,300 – 103 percent of its goal – and banked enough to work with a Grammy-nominated producer in North Carolina, said Danielle Hundley, Conundrum’s flutist who lives in Cincinnati.

Taylor exceeded her goal of $10,000, too.

“It was a test for me – is my music still as important or relevant? It was a big question,” said Taylor, who gave digital downloads of her record to backers who pledged as little as $1.

Then there’s Henry. He asked for just $350 to print his comic book and raised $608 with rewards such as an original character drawing of the patron’s choice.

“I had a guy, out of nowhere, pledge $167. Where does that come from?” he said. “Unbelievable.”

Home-grown options

While Kickstarter is perhaps the best known crowdfunding firm, it’s not alone. Cincinnati-based SoMoLend helps entrepreneurs use debt-based crowdfunding. Founder Candace Klein said that works better for restaurants, retailers and professional services firms.

“Businesses that have consumer products are generally very successful on Kickstarter – people whose rewards are their products,” Klein said. “Professional service firms have a really tough time.”

That was true for Sunshine Wills, a manager with Covington consulting firm Nimblesoft. She and her partner did a 33-day Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000 toward a code generation tool for software developers. They only got $633 in pledges.

“We couldn’t reach the people that would potentially be interested,” she said.

Andrew Bliss said he thinks his Adventurous Mailbox is the right kind of product for Kickstarter. But Bliss said he didn’t plan well enough before launching his campaign to raise $10,000 for the subscription service that will send kids illustrated letters from around the world. As of Sept. 12, Bliss had raised only $1,600 with 21 hours to go.

“Most of my friends and family didn’t know I’ve been working on this for the past two years,” said Bliss, who lives in Taipei and is working with a Cincinnati teacher on the project. “I waited too long to get started on the whole thing. I still like the idea of Kickstarter. But I didn’t share it before I went on Kickstarter.”

Crowdfunding has its pitfalls

Think before you kick.

That’s the advice from Tri-State lawyers and from those who’ve used Kickstarter.

The crowdfunding site can be an effective way for entrepreneurs to generate funds without giving up ownership, said Christopher Muth, a partner in Dinsmore’s downtown office. But when owners describe their projects, they should take care not to release information that could put them at a competitive disadvantage, he said.

“You still have some risks,” he said.

Once a business decides to use the site, Kickstarter offers tips, and local entrepreneurs recommend following those closely.

One key is alerting supporters to a campaign before it starts, said Danielle Hundley, the flutist with the chamber music quartet Conundrum.

“Once the project kicks off, there’s a little bit of a thought that people are just going to magically give you money. It doesn’t really work that way,” she said.

Hundley also stressed the importance of having a good video and said entrepreneurs must continually communicate with fans while they’re trying to raise the money.

Another tip: There’s a 14-day hold on funds after the campaign ends, she said, so businesses should be aware of that before they start spending their money.

– Lucy May

Lucy May covers nonprofits, urban affairs and arts and culture

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